The tit-for-tat will take place in the open, yet few will pay attention. We do.

You have to take this announcement in full context: (1) Sanctions against Russia failed.  (2) NATO expanded, creating more provocation. (3) NATO pledged Ukraine NATO membership.  (4) Biden then pledged new long-range missiles will be located in Germany in 2026 able to reach all of Russia. (5) Russia sailed a nuclear submarine into Cuba; and (6) Yesterday, Vladimir Putin pledged to put nuclear weapons close to the USA (likely Cuba) if Biden puts long-range missiles in Germany.

OK, that’s the escalation timeline.  That’s the lead up to this next announcement.

The people behind Joe Biden just told congress they are expanding the nuclear weapon arsenal in the U.K and Europe [White House Announcement]; presumably for use against Russia.  Now ask yourself what you think Vladimir Putin will do next.

WHITE HOUSE – […] The Amendment’s revisions to Article II(B) of the 1958 Agreement clarify that these same types of information may be exchanged related to atomic weapons, including special nuclear materials properties and production or processing technology, as is determined necessary to improve the recipient’s atomic weapon design, development, or fabrication capability.

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I can tell you from firsthand recent experience, Russia has psychologically prepared the citizens of the country for war against the West, if that is what’s needed.

The Russian people do not want war but trust me – they are a hardened nation filled with people who are used to hardship in comparative terms to Americans and Europeans. Their military bases are full of trainees, and the streets have as many young men in fatigues as they do business attire.

The roads and highways are full of not-so-subtle billboards preparing the nation. There are posters on the streets and in the subway stations, and flyers in almost every business, shop, office and retail location preparing the citizens of Russia.  There is also a very cold and deliberate tone in all of the expressed government information about preparation.  In short, they’re ready.

POLITICO – Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to deploy missiles within striking distance of the West should the U.S. move forward with its missile deployment in Germany.

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened a tit-for-tat response should Washington deploy long-range missiles in Germany, saying Moscow would answer by placing similar missiles within striking distance of the West.

Washington and Berlin announced earlier this month that the U.S. will deploy the arms in Germany starting in 2026, along with Tomahawk cruise missiles and developmental hypersonic weapons. The missiles “have significantly longer range than current land-based fires in Europe,” the White House said in a statement.

The move is meant to show the U.S.’s commitment to NATO and its European allies.

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At the same time that Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington DC to rally U.S. support for the ongoing Israeli conflict against Hamas in Gaza, FBI Director Chris Wray is informing congress of the potential for domestic Iranian interests to be involved in the assassination attempt against President Trump.

What does each narrative have in common?

When outgoing President Barack Obama had his final “transition” meeting with incoming President Donald Trump, he informed the incoming administration the biggest geopolitical threat to national security interests comes from North Korea. President-elect Trump asked President Obama if he had ever spoken to Chairman Kim Jong-un.  The response was that U.S. policy is not to reward aggressors with direct contact.  As the story is told, those types of discussions are perceived within the USG as rewarding our adversaries.

That was that.

Subsequently, and in a complete departure from national security norms and USG policy as created by those who run USG policy – ie. The Deep State, President Trump told his national security team to arrange contact with Chairman Kim.  I will not repeat the week-to-week events, but not surprisingly, things radically changed.

The intelligence community (IC), the true control elements of the deepest part of our USG Deep State, were not happy.  When President Trump spoke to Chairman Kim, he violated one of the governing sacraments constructing the walls around the compartmented Silos.

If a president is told it is raining outside while sitting in a room without windows, is it really raining?

….Back to the IC and Iran.

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The Dnipro River essentially forms the boundary between Russian controlled territory and Ukraine.  Everything East of the river is controlled by Russia, while everything west is controlled by Ukraine.  This status is essentially the underpinning of the visible stalemate.

By most generally accepted accounts, the Russians have carved out the buffer zone they initially wanted. Russia is essentially no longer trying to take any more ground in Ukraine and in many places, they have begun rebuilding towns. That’s what it looks like on the ground.

Ukraine had crossed the Dnipro to take the village of Krynky (near Kherson) a few months ago and had been trying to hold the area.  However, with the river behind them it was increasingly unrealistic to stop Russia from retaking the town.  As expected, Russia pushed the depleted Ukraine forces back across the river.

UKRAINE – […] Ukrainian troops have lost a hard-won position on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, near the southern city of Kherson, after months of bloody fighting to hold on to a piece of land in what some Ukrainian soldiers and military analysts have described as a futile operation.

The Ukrainian military said on Wednesday night that fighting continued on the eastern bank but that most of the main positions in the village of Krynky, where its troops had gained a foothold, “were destroyed by intense, combined and prolonged enemy fire.” The statement came after several Ukrainian news media outlets reported that Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from the village, which now lies in ruins.

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During the NATO summit in DC Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said, “at today’s NATO Summit, I will reaffirm that Hungary will not participate in the NATO-Ukraine mission, but we will continue to meet our objectives in the development of Hungarian defense capabilities, thus strengthening our Alliance.”

Orban has been traveling the globe, establishing a coalition of partners and setting up the baseline for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.  However, the U.S. Intelligence Community and all those downstream politicians who work at the behest of the global crisis agents, are not happy about the peace strategy at all.

PM Orban went to Ukraine to speak to President Zelenskyy, then went to Russia to speak to President Putin, then went to China to speak to Chairman Xi, then headed to Washington DC to meet with President Biden, then last night went to see the key that would bring it all together, President Donald Trump.

Orban then Tweeted a video saying, “We continued the peace mission in Mar-a-Lago. President @realDonaldTrump has proved during his presidency that he is a man of peace. He will do it again!”  The collective UniParty inside Washington DC is having absolute fits about it.

It’s not just Joe Biden and the current administration who are apoplectic about Prime Minister Orban’s peace effort.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is furious and vowing to stamp out the ideology of the Republican network who dare challenge the current geopolitical efforts.

The republican senator from Kentucky said defending the blood-soaked efforts of the New World Order is his priority. “This is going to be my top priority. No question about it,” McConnell said in an interview this week. McConnell added that he might even start to hold court with reporters in the halls of the Senate. “This is the most important thing going on in the world right now,” the Kentucky Republican said.” [LINK]

Mitch McConnell is furious about the efforts to bring about a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine and he is vowing to confront any Republican who doesn’t acquiesce to the foreign policy program of the UniParty.  McConnell’s intents are in full support of the U.S. Intelligence Community and the Biden administration.  However, McConnell has an ally in Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.

As noted, “Speaker Mike Johnson, who held up Ukraine aid for months despite public pressure from McConnell, is now starting to sound a lot like the Kentucky Republican when talking about national security, especially Ukraine.”  For Speaker Johnson, Zelenskyy’s ability to maintain access to the U.S. treasury is a top priority.  The money must keep flowing in order to keep the conflict alive.

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It’s odd how no one in the American media seems to ask how Obama and Biden went from a friendly “reset” with Russia in 2009 to full geopolitical antagonism in 2011.

♦ What exactly led to the complete reversal of intent?

I digress…. However, having some deeper understanding of the current status of the conflict, I also find it curious how the New York Tims can just seemingly bury the lead in their story about how U.S-led military “mercenary” soldiers are on the ground fighting, while seemingly forgetting their prior outline about how the CIA was conducting all the military operations in the same area. Not funny, that.

“In Ukraine, Killings of Surrendering Russians Divide an American-Led Unit” – […] Hours after a battle in eastern Ukraine in August, a wounded and unarmed Russian soldier crawled through a nearly destroyed trench, seeking help from his captors, a unit of international volunteers led by an American.

Caspar Grosse, a German medic in that unit, said he saw the soldier plead for medical attention in a mix of broken English and Russian. It was dusk. A team member looked for bandages.

That is when, Mr. Grosse said, a fellow soldier hobbled over and fired his weapon into the Russian soldier’s torso. He slumped, still breathing. Another soldier fired — “just shot him in the head,” Mr. Grosse recalled in an interview.

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Tucker Carlson announced a potential interview with Volodymyr Zelensky only to have the spokesperson for Zelensky refute the assertion.

The people for Zelenskyy later denied any agreement for an interview.  Per Politico: “Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office denied Thursday that the Ukrainian president had agreed to a sit-down interview with American right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson.”

“The President of Ukraine has a completely different schedule, and Tucker Carlson is not on it,” presidential spokesperson Sergii Nykyforov said Thursday morning, while casting doubt on Carlson’s Ukrainian sources. (read more)

Given what I have personally witnessed and discovered about the conflict in Ukraine, I could not see Zelenskyy giving Tucker Carlson an interview. Almost everything we see about the USA/Ukraine -v- Russia conflict is through the highly controlled prism of the U.S State Dept.

Again, I would emphasize…. have we seen one front line report from any USA MSM outlet?  One report from the trenches, bunkers or on-the-ground action from near the front lines of the conflict?   No, no we have not.   No reporters with helmets and flak jackets giving breathless reports from the fields and battlegrounds.  Nothing.

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A Russian person could not visit New York, Chicago and Los Angeles and then say they visited The United States and have an understanding of Americans.  They might think they understand, but any American would giggle at the notion.

Conversely, the same is true in Russia.  You cannot visit Moscow, St Petersburg and Kazan and think you have an understanding of Russians.  However, if you give yourself time, join in the daily tasks and challenges of ordinary Russians, you can easily discover some of the deeper stuff that really puts context on life in the Russian Federation.

Perhaps what follows is a different perspective.

It took a while, but I finally figured out what this phrase “the fatherland” is all about.

Let me start by sharing another phrase that almost every American will find familiar, yet virtually every Russian asked has no reference to comprehend: “you work for us.”

When talking to a federal, state or local government official in the United States and saying, “you work for us,” everyone listening would completely understand your sentiment.  However, in Russia that phrase is akin to asking a Martian for a canoe.   This is the way to understand “the fatherland.”

Within Russia the social compact is organized around the premise (key word “premise“), that government is the father figure within a family – and all of the citizens are children.   The government knows best.  The state engages in all facets, systems and structures as if they are the omnipotent father who cares about the children.

The people of Russia generally accept this system.  Generations and generations of compliant, well behaved, very structured and regimented ideology still permeates.  The muscle memory is deepest in the psychological muscles that run through generations.

Oddly, this social compact is understood, but only understood insofar as the Russian people do not have any other reference point, or alternative system that would enable them to see the deficit in the oppressive system that surrounds them.

The average Russian knows the “West” is different but doesn’t really know why the social system they see outside their window seemingly operates with well-organized randomness.  What is this efficiency within unbridled capitalism you speak of, and why would Americans be willing to give it up?

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Today, June 12th, is Russia Day, a national holiday in the Russian federation.  The symbolism of the intentionally timed events happening today seems to be lost on most western media.

A Russian Yasen-class nuclear submarine named “Kazan” arrived in Havana, Cuba today after piloting through the Florida straits.  Watching a massive nuclear submarine sail into Havana is something extraordinary considering all the provocations taking place between the USA and Russia surrounding the conflict in Ukraine.

Additionally, in a counteraction to provide clarity to the intents and economic purposes of the Biden administration (DoS, CIA and IC), today the Treasury Dept announces new 2nd round sanctions against Russia.   However, in comparative terms, the physical appearance of a nuclear-powered Russian submarine and a set of accompanying warships carrying hypersonic cruise missiles approximately 30 miles from the USA mainland, is a little more dramatic than western saber rattling about sanctioning two Russian banks, Sberbank and VTB.

The Russian submarine fleet, and specifically the Yasen-class submarine group, is the tip of the spear against any military force the USA might choose to deploy in Eastern Europe.  Russian President Vladimir Putin is essentially signaling the people behind Joe Biden that he is willing to participate in the provocation approach.

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According to Politico and the New York Times the Biden administration has given Ukraine approval to launch U.S provided missiles into Russia.  {LINK} This is a major escalation of NATO engagement, likely intended to provoke Russia to strike alternate targets.  The people inside Ukraine responsible for using these U.S. provided weapons are likely not Ukranian.

CTH is in an unusually serendipitous position to analyze how Russia is responding to this shift in USA position.  The morale inside Russia is very high amid the military age population.  The recruitment efforts of the Russian government appear to be numerous and very effective.

There are thousands of newly enlisted military personnel very visible in/around training facilities.  There is no apparent tension discernable. Overall Russia appears to take great pride in their military, and it is considered a matter of honor and pride to support them.

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration has quietly given Ukraine permission to strike inside Russia — solely near the area of Kharkiv — using U.S.-provided weapons, two U.S. officials and two other people familiar with the move said Thursday, a major reversal that will help Ukraine to better defend its second-largest city.

“The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use U.S. weapons for counter-fire purposes in Kharkiv so Ukraine can hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them,” a U.S. official said, adding that the policy of not allowing long-range strikes inside Russia “has not changed.”

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